Angel Blue
by blythe dragon
Summary: Ooo, now you've done it, Soul! One cynical remark too many about Maka's lack of sex appeal may have been the last straw. What are you gonna do about it? More importantly, can you fix it before it's too late? SoMa, rated T for language, slight OOcness, craziness from caffeine, fluffy ending...blah blah blah.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is just something that got stuck in my head…granted, it's not an original premise – big fight, hurt feelings, angst, OOC-ness, make-up time fulla fluffiness, and so on and so forth – but it's helping take away my frustration with trying to get past the skyscraper-sized writer's block that's keeping me from completing chapter 4 of Chaotic Confessions. **_**This**_** story emerged from me idly thinking about a certain quote from a certain show, and mostly wrote itself after that.**

**The third and last chapter will be posted the next time m'job gives me a day off. Feh.**

**(For anybody who happens to be curious, the only thing the title has to do with the story is that it's connected to the quote that sparked my imagination to write this. Bravo to any of you who know what quote I'm talking about, where it is in this story, and what show it's from!)**

* * *

**Rated T - 'Cause Soul has a potty mouth, as we're all well aware. Even when he's not talking out loud.**

**Disclaimer: Me…own Soul Eater? Or ZZ Top? What is this madness of which you speak?**

* * *

"He was not _ogling_ my legs, Soul!"

"Uh, _yeah_, he was."

Maka ground her teeth at her partner's confident tone. "He was NOT!" she hissed, stomping up the stairs that led to their seats in Stein's classroom. "He was only asking us for directions; we're lucky he didn't call the cops on us, or worse, Shinigami-san!" She dropped angrily into her seat. "We could have gotten expelled because of your stupid stunt!"

"And how is protecting my meister from a perverted freak gonna get us expelled?" Soul retorted, slumping into the chair next to her. "If anything, I oughta get rewarded for going above the call of duty."

Maka clasped her hands together tightly, if only to prevent herself from throttling Soul. Eyeing the text books in front of her, she thought that maybe a double Maka Chop would be more appropriate, considering the fact that he was being such a hard-headed idiot! "For starters, I don't think 'protecting me'-" sarcastic air quotes, "-from somebody just wanting to know where the post office is located is specifically listed as a weapon's duty," she retorted acidly. "For crying out loud, all he did was smile at me!"

"He was smiling at your legs, Maka," Soul replied flatly. "His eyes never made it above the hemline of your skirt."

Taking a deep breath in a feeble attempt to lower her temper from the boiling point, Maka turned to face her weapon. "And how would _you_ know that's where his eyes were? Unless you were ogling my legs, too," she added in an overly sweet voice, one that had the students seated near them hastily scooting their chairs away from the impending storm.

Soul rolled his eyes. "For such a nerdy genius," he sneered, " you're being pretty stupid. I was watching that jerk's face, Maka – I _know_ where his eyes were. "

Several of the students who had just scooted away hastily got up and moved to seats that were closer to the exit, in deference to vast amounts of furious energy pouring off of Maka in waves.

"What I don't get," he continued blithely, " is why he was looking at your stick legs and knobby knees in the first place. If that guy thought your legs were worth gawkin' at, it's obvious that his definition of sex appeal was pretty warped." Closing his eyes, Soul went ahead and braced himself for the Mega Maka Chop he knew he'd get for his last comment. Yeah, it would hurt like a bitch, but he figured that if Maka went ahead and got rid of her anger the way she normally did – which almost always meant that he was on the receiving end of a book-induced concussion or two – then she'd get over her ridiculous snit, and they could get on with their lives.

The fact that _he_ was the only one allowed to ogle her legs – that he _liked_ looking at her legs; those long, strong, smooth legs – was totally besides the point. Mostly. Soul knew that if Maka ever found out that a snatch of the ZZ Top song "Legs" went through his mind whenever an errant breeze lifted her skirt just so, he would be the deadest of dead meat.

Well, he was more than willing to die for his meister, even if that meant his death came by her hands. Books. Whatever. Wait a minute – shouldn't he have been Maka Chopped into the stratosphere by now?

Soul cautiously glanced at his partner. Instead of emitting the aura of fury and outrage he'd come to expect when she'd reached Super Pissed mode, Maka was sitting very still, head lowered and bangs shadowing her eyes.

"I see," she murmured quietly. "So that's how it is."

Uneasy about her subdued reaction, Soul made a weak attempt to salvage what he sensed was a rapidly deteriorating situation. "Hey, it was a _joke_-"

"A joke." Maka's head snapped around, and the glacial chill in her dark emerald eyes literally took his breath away. "Just a joke, huh?"

"Maka-"

"Don't talk to me right now."

"But-"

"I _said_ don't talk to me."

Soul flinched, though whether it was from the quiet finality in her voice or from the glimmer of deep hurt he saw in her eyes before she turned away, he couldn't say.

Shit. He'd majorly screwed up this time.

He tried once more, using his soul's wavelength as a nonverbal way to show her how sorry he was for upsetting her so badly. The sinking sensation in his gut grew larger as his efforts to connect with her soul were rebuffed by an impenetrable shield. He was sitting right next to her, but he might as well have been halfway across the city – he couldn't feel her at _all_.

Shit. Shit. _Shit_.

Maka had _never_ shut him out so completely before, no matter how furious she was with him.

A stinging slap against the back of his head made Soul turn around in irritation. Confronted by the angry face of Liz, her hand still raised in a flicking gesture, he realized that she'd probably heard the whole argument, including its bitter end. Glancing around, he realized by Tsubaki's stony visage, Black *Star's narrowed eyes, Kid's crossed arms and hostile stare – hell, even _Patty_ was glaring at him – that all of their friends had also seen and heard him make a total uncool jackass of himself.

He slouched back down in his seat, thoroughly miserable.

As soon as Stein dismissed class, Maka immediately gathered her books and notes and scurried away, her ducked head and stiff shoulders warning Soul that following her right now was not a good idea. The frost that blasted him when Tsubaki, Liz and Patty passed by him to hurry after Maka only served as a pointed reminder that he was most certainly in the doghouse with those three. Even Kid and Black*Star gave him the cold shoulder; Kid just marched by, silent disapproval evident on his features, while the blue-haired ninja scornfully tossed out "Dude, you are _so_ riding the fail whale right now" as he sauntered out of the classroom.

Soul sighed. This was turning out to be a fucking _wonderful_ day.

* * *

Soul couldn't handle not being able to talk to his meister – the one time he did try, coming up behind Maka during the mad scramble in the halls as everyone made their way to the cafeteria for lunch, Patty came out of nowhere and growled at him so menacingly that Soul backed away quickly, the fine hairs on his neck prickling in fear. Sometimes it was easy to forget how fucking _scary_ the normally laughing younger Demon pistol could really be.

He wound up spending his lunch break alone in a rarely used classroom in the lower levels of the school.

People less cool than him would call it hiding – and they were probably right in calling it that – but he saw it more as an act of self-preservation for his physical well-being. Can't grovel for forgiveness to your partner and be taken seriously if you're bleeding, battered and bruised from the pounding you received from a mostly cheerful (but sometimes psycho) blond moppet for trying to talk to said partner before said partner is ready to have you come anywhere near them.

Or something to that effect.

He knew he was being a coward by not saying to hell with the consequences and forcibly dragging Maka off to a quiet place and making her listen to him, but the look in her eyes that morning had really shaken him, more than he cared to admit. He'd never meant to be the cause of such hurt and pain to his meister. He was supposed to protect her, dammit, and belatedly realizing that his teasing had finally gone too far wasn't helping him fix the situation he had created.

There were classes at the DWMA on how a weapon was to always protect their meister from evil beings, both supernatural and mortal – but where was the class that taught you how to atone for your grievous lapse in good judgment when your thoughtless teasing causes a rift of major proportions with the one person you're supposed to safeguard, the one person you care about more than anything?

When the bell rang signaling that lunch was over, Soul trudged out of the classroom he'd taken refuge in, no closer to an answer than before.

* * *

Leaning his forehead against his locker, Soul sighed. He still wasn't quite sure how he'd made it through the rest of the school day. Thanks to the infamous DWMA rumor mill – facts and fantasy twisted into a gossipy mess that passed from ear to ear faster than the speed of light – Soul was not only pointedly ignored by his closest friends, but gawked at and whispered about by approximately 80% of the student body. Hell, even Marie stared at him blandly with a raised eyebrow when she'd taken roll in her class – the one teacher he thought he could count on to be _somewhat_ sympathetic to his plight.

Soul counted himself lucky that Maka's dad was off on a mission – and out of the city – for the day per Shinigami's orders. The last thing he needed was for Spirit to find out that his darling baby girl had been insulted so badly by her weapon. While he gloomily assumed that the Death Scythe would take a special glee in the fact that Maka wasn't currently speaking to her partner, Soul also figured that for daring to truly hurt his only daughter's feelings, Spirit would have his guts for garters.

Or maybe he'd chase after him, black scythe blades gleaming, shouting maniacally "Gonna have me some calamari tonight, Octopus Head!"

Ugh. Grimacing at the rather vivid mental image his imagination had come up with, Soul pushed away from his locker. After all, he didn't know for certain when Spirit would be back, and it would be wiser to vacate the premises of the academy before karma decided to bite him in the ass. Turning the corner of the hallway that led to the front doors, he realized that at least part of his luck _had_ run out when he was confronted by the unfriendly eyes and tightly crossed arms of Liz and Tsubaki.

Crap. Resigned to a tongue-lashing from two of Maka's best friends (he assumed that Patty had been assigned bodyguard/cheer-up duty to his meister), Soul stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets and waited for the verbal – and possibly physical; there was no telling with irate girls, as he well knew – assault to begin.

"Maka is going to be with us this evening," Tsubaki said coolly. "She wanted us to inform you that she probably wouldn't be home in time for dinner."

"Yeah, I figured." Soul sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Look. I know all of you guys are pissed at me for good reason, and Maka even more so, but could you just tell her that I-"

Liz held up a well-manicured hand. "Keep your apologies," she said shortly. Catching sight of the muscles in his jaw clenching, the Demon gun relented a little. "Just think long and hard about what you said to her, and then…" She trailed off when she realized Soul's hooded gaze had widened to an incredulous stare that was focusing over her shoulder. "What are you – oh." After turning around, she realized what he was looking at – or rather, _who_ he was looking at.

Standing close to the large double doors that led to the front courtyard of the academy was Maka, chatting animatedly with somebody Soul had never expected to see her speak to at all, let alone in such a friendly manner. So just why in the hell was she talking with _Hiro_?

A corner of Soul's lip raised in an unconscious snarl. His first instinct? To march over there and beat the ever-lovin' crap out of the lanky blonde boy for being anywhere near his meister, their current state of unresolved tension and unspoken apologies be damned.

All thoughts of vicious retribution fell away abruptly when he saw Hiro reach out, grab Maka's hands, and _Maka smile and nod at him_. In a moment of painful clarity, Soul realized that he really had no right to claim any of Maka's affections, especially after what had happened that morning. If she was happy, even with somebody like Hiro, who was he to interfere? Despair and loss settled around his heart in a painful clench, leaving him empty and hurting. He silently spun on his heel and shuffled off, shoulders slumped with defeat and the beginnings of a broken heart.

Tsubaki and Liz exchanged glances. They had both seen the look of agony in Soul's eyes before he'd turned away, and neither girl had the heart to try and stop him when he walked away.

Liz puffed out her cheeks. "This…could get complicated."

Tsubaki could only agree.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of Soul Eater...but I do claim credit for making Maka totally OOC due to frozen caffeine overload. XD**

* * *

"He's an insensitive jerk." Staring at the plastic cup that held her third Deathbucks mocha frappe, Maka briefly pondered if so much frozen coffee was good for her while she felt so out of sorts.

The hell with it. She was entitled to overindulge in her favorite treat, especially after feeling miserable and confused and depressed most of the day. Three quarters of the frappe disappeared in one gulp, inducing yet another round of brain freeze.

"Ooo, that's cold!" Wincing, the blonde meister set her cup down carefully and blinked at the three girls sitting at the table with her. "…what was I saying?"

Liz raised an eyebrow. "Er, you were calling Soul-"

"His _name_ is He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named!"

"Yeah, sis!" Patty interjected, looking up from the giraffe she was drawing in her math textbook. "It's against the _rules_ to say his name."

"Right. Sorry. You were calling He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named an insensitive jerk." Leaning back from the table a bit, Liz muttered to Tsubaki, "We really shouldn't have let her had that third frappe."

"I think you're right," the Dark Arm weapon replied uneasily, watching Maka abruptly drop her head on the formica tabletop with an audible _thunk_. "I forgot how she gets when she has too much caffeine at once."

"If she's like this with three frappes, I'd hate to see how she'd act with alcohol in her system."

Tsubaki groaned. "I can't even imagine. There'd be no telling what she might do!"

A muffled snort came from the tabletop. "I c'n hear you two, y'know."

"Maka, honey, we came here to let you vent and help cheer you up, not to have you get wasted on frozen coffee," Liz said gently.

Swallowing a hiccup, Maka blearily raised her head. "Waz wrong wit gettin' wasted? Ain't I 'titled t'have a li'l down time after the day I had t'day? After whut He-Not-Who-Named-Be-Shall _said_ t'me?!"

"Good lord, she's already hit the anger and bad grammar stage."

"Ho-kay, it's definitely detox time," Tsubaki stated, getting out of her chair.

Several cups of ice water, one mild crying jag and two trips to the ladies room later, Maka was feeling and acting more like her old self.

"Sorry about that, guys. I forget how carried away I can get when I have too many frappes at once."

"It's okay." Tsubaki waved away her apologies. "At least it's out of your system now, right?"

Maka sighed. "The caffeine, yes. Mostly. As for my butthead of a partner, well…"

"He went too far this time," Liz said firmly. "He needs to realize that constantly putting down your appearance is, as he likes to say so much, totally NOT cool."

Propping her elbows on the table and dropping her head into her hands, Maka glanced at her best friends. "I'm still mad at him, but…" She paused, gathering her thoughts. "I wanna beat the crap out of him and hug him at the same time. Is that normal?"

Taking a moment to consider their respective male counterparts, the twin Demon pistols and Tsubaki exchanged a three-way glance before answering simultaneously, "Yes!"

Maka joined in with their laughter, grateful for good friends who knew how to help pull a girl out of an emotional slump. Yes, she was still mightily pissed at her weapon partner, but she had to be honest with herself and admit that regardless of how badly he teased her or if he didn't harbor any feelings for her beyond the platonic feelings of a best friend, she still wanted to be with him. She couldn't imagine life without her snarky, lazy, laid-back, musically talented, supportive, caring, too-cool-for-his-own good Soul Eater Evans. Yeah, she still wanted him – she always would.

"It's kind of funny," Maka mused, taking a sip of her ice water. "I was able to help Hiro out today with relationship problems, but it took me all day to figure out mine…" She caught the strange look Liz exchanged with Tsubaki. "What? What did I say?"

"Speaking of Hiro," Tsubaki said slowly, "we, uh, saw you two together today. Right before we came to get you to come here."

"Okay…" Maka was confused. "What about it? He was just asking me about dating-"

Liz was appalled. "Omigod – Hiro actually asked you out?"

Maka sputtered incoherently. "**WHAT**?! Why the_ hell_ would you think that?"

"Well," Tsubaki began nervously, alarmed by the look of horror on the blonde meister's face, "didn't you just say that Hiro asked you about dating…?"

Maka blinked. "Yeah, but-" Suddenly it clicked. "Ohh! You thought he was asking me out? No, no no! He wants to ask out a girl that he likes in one of the other classes. He was just asking me for advice, that's all!"

Liz placed a hand over her heart. "_That's_ a relief. For a second there…" She trailed off, shuddering delicately. "I mean, it's Hiro! If he ever tried to ask me out, I'd tell him I was gay."

Maka and Tsubaki burst into giggles. "If he ever asked me," Tsubaki said mischievously, "_I'd_ tell him I was married."

"If he ever asked me, I'd tell him I was dead."

Three heads whipped around to regard the younger Demon gun. They hadn't realized that Patty had even been paying attention to their recent conversation.

Silence reigned for a few heartbeats.

Patty looked up from the giraffe she was drawing. "What?"

Liz cleared her throat. "Anyways, while it's nice to know how we all feel about Hiro ever asking us for a date, there's something else you need to know, Maka."

"Eh?"

"We…weren't the only ones who saw you and Hiro together."

Maka's brow furrowed. "Who else are you- oh no." Realization sunk in at the same time Tsubaki said quietly, "Yes. Soul saw it, too."

* * *

**Super short chapter, yah? No worries, the conclusion is coming soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**FINALLY. The holiday season at my job is over (for now), so I grabbed my free time by the hand, sat it down, and told it firmly that it was time to finish Angel Blue.**

**Glad it listened to me…**

* * *

**Disclaimer: We ALL know the drill – I don't own Soul Eater, or the song "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult. Such a pity.**

* * *

Maka gawked incredulously at the sight that greeted her as she opened the door to the apartment. She'd been dreading the inevitable confrontation with Soul when she got home, her thoughts pinging around the inside of her mind in a maelstrom of anxiety and confused emotions, and here he was asleep on the couch!

Honestly.

Maka took a deep breath then exhaled slowly, pulling off her boots and neatly placing them by the front door. While she was grateful that she wouldn't have to dive right into the talk she knew she had to have with her partner, all of her simmering emotions had no current focus or outlet, and she felt drained. It had taken a lot out of her to stay mad at Soul most of the day, and that caffeine binge didn't help either, she mused as she padded around the couch to perch on the edge of the coffee table.

Gazing more closely at her sleeping partner, Maka realized that the day's events had also been hard on Soul. Instead of sprawling all over the couch like he normally did – limbs every which way and drool trickling from the corner of his mouth – her weapon was curled up on his side, both hands tucked under chin. The relaxed look that usually graced his face when he was asleep was absent; his silver eyebrows were drawn together slightly, and even though she knew he was asleep, Maka noted that his jaw muscles were clenched.

Cautiously reaching out with her wavelength, she also realized that Soul's sleeping form was a pale mirror of his actual mental state. It may have been muted because he wasn't awake, but the feelings of regret, apprehension and sorrow reverberated in his soul, echoing within her own.

This couldn't go on. They'd had some fairly major fights in the past, squabbles and arguments that had resulted in heated words and pointed ignoring of the other person, but now they were both hurting in ways that had never happened before. Though she was still smarting a bit from Soul's casual dismissal of her appeal to members of the opposite sex, she'd also (mostly) forgiven him. Maka knew that for the sake of their partnership and their friendship they had to resolve this.

"Hey," she said softly, poking him gently in the shoulder. "Wake up."

Soul jolted awake, sleep-clouded eyes flying open. When he focused on his meister sitting across from him, he scrambled into a sitting position, running a hand through his hair. "Uh. Hi. You're…home."

Dark blond eyebrows raised questioningly. "What, were you not expecting me to come home tonight?"

"I didn't know if you were going to stay with one of the girls or something," he murmured, not meeting her eyes. "Tsubaki said you weren't going to be home for dinner, so I thought…" He trailed off, shrugging.

"Well, I'm here."

"Mmm." Now that she _was_ here, Soul didn't have any idea of what to say. All of the apologies he'd gone over in his mind, all of the things he'd wanted to say to Maka to make her understand how sorry he was for making her mad enough to avoid him – all those thoughts deserted him as they sat there in a slightly uncomfortable silence. He knew he should say _something_, but he couldn't think of a single thing. Hell, he couldn't even look her in the eyes! Totally uncool.

Silently snarling at himself to own up and grow a pair, he glanced up. "Look, Maka, I'm sorry," he blurted out. "I didn't mean what I said today – about your legs. Or your sex appeal. I really _was_ joking, but I didn't realize-" He raised his hands then let them drop in his lap. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings to the point where you'd shut me out," he finished quietly.

"Shut you out?" Maka blinked. "I know I didn't speak to you all day, but-"

"You closed off your wavelength to me right after you told me not to talk to you," Soul explained tiredly, rubbing his palms over his eyes. "You – you've never done that to me before."

Thinking back to what had transpired that morning in Stein's class, Maka gradually realized he was right. She'd slammed closed the constant connection she had with her partner, so infuriated and crushed at his cruel remarks that she really _had_ shut him out completely. And that, Maka thought with a twinge of guilt, was something she'd _never_ done before, no matter how mad she was at him.

"You're right. I did cut you off completely, and for that I'm sorry. But," she continued, her voice becoming reproachful, "do you know how much it hurts for you to constantly shove in my face that you think I'm not pretty or attractive or have any sex appeal or-" She squeaked as Soul grabbed her hands and tugged her onto the couch next to him.

"Soul! What are you…" She trailed off as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. She stiffened, surprised into immobility by his sudden gesture.

"I think," he said slowly, resting his chin on top of her head, "that after not being able to talk to you or even feel your wavelength almost all day long, I have an inkling of how it feels."

Maka relaxed against Soul's chest, feeling the truth of his words in both his wavelength and the steady beat of his heart. She smiled a little as she wrapped her arms around his waist to return his hug. "Yeah. I think you do."

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments. "So, is all forgiven?" Soul asked, idly playing with one of her pigtails.

"Are you gonna stop teasing me?" Maka inquired archly.

Soul hesitated before answering her. "No."

"**What**." Maka wrenched herself out of his arms, staring disbelievingly at her weapon. "After all the crap we went through today, you're-!"

He silenced her angry tirade by placing a finger against her lips. "I said no because I'm not gonna make a promise I can't keep," he explained calmly. "I have no plans to stop teasing you, just 'cause your reactions are so much fun." Soul grinned, gently flicking the end of her nose. Maka jerked away, rubbing her nose and eyeing him warily.

"But I do want you to know," he continued in a serious tone, "that I promise to never tease you about your appearance again. I didn't pay attention to how my jokes about your looks were hurting you, and that was wrong of me. After today, I've learned my lesson."

Maka leaned back and carefully scanned Soul's face, looking for any hint of falsehood in his words. His face was open, with no hint of guile lurking within the ruby depths of his eyes, but she noticed that his shoulders were tensed as he waited for her to reply. Her acceptance of his promise was as important to him as it was to her, she realized.

The fact they both had issues stemming from childhood was not forgotten by Maka. Cool and aloof attitude aside, Soul had an unspoken fear of rejection, having experienced it so many times growing up. Beneath her outgoing and straightforward personality, Maka was terrified of being abandoned. She had to admit that it took a lot for her to trust openly and fully, to get truly close to anybody after her father's constant cheating and her mother's abrupt departure after the divorce was final.

Maybe that was why her strong friendship with Soul, and his with her, was such a key component in keeping them both on a somewhat even keel, she mused. They needed each other; more importantly, one always supported the other when it came to suppressing those deep-rooted phobias, to keep them from interfering with their day-to-day lives.

She trusted Soul with all that she was, just like he trusted her with all that he was. Nothing else really mattered, did it?

"I believe you. And – I accept your apology."

Seeing the tension leave Soul's shoulders, being on the receiving end of one of his rare genuine smiles, Maka was assured that they'd conquered a potential crisis that could have damaged their relationship beyond repair. She smiled back at him, giddy with relief.

"So," Soul drawled, leaning back on the couch and placing his hands behind his head, "since we're all good now, and I'm only gonna tease you about your nerdiness and lack of basketball skills and such, that means you're gonna quit with the Maka Chops, right?"

Maka snorted, raising an eyebrow. "If the teasing continues, the Maka Chops continue." She smiled sweetly. "After all, that's only fair."

"Aw, c'mon, Maka!" Soul whined. "If you keep knockin' me upside the head with those friggin' books, you're gonna give me permanent brain damage!"

She smirked in reply. "Well, then, now you have a positive incentive to _not_ call me a bookworm or tell me that I suck at basketball, don't you?"

"You're heartless," he replied, scowling. "Totally and utterly heartless."

"Whatever. You know you love it, you closet masochist."

"Did I or did I not just ask you a minute ago if you would stop with the constant cranium attacks? How does that make me a masochist?"

"Well-"

_~Come on baby_

_Don't fear the reaper_

_Baby take my hand_

_Don't fear the reaper~_

"Nice ringtone there, Maka."

She made a sour face at him as she dug her cell phone out of her coat pocket. "I _knew_ I shouldn't have let Papa use my phone last week…Hello? Oh! Hi, Hiro."

Soul, who was in the act of getting up to grab a drink out of the kitchen, froze for a second. In the process of making up with Maka and reveling in being able to banter with her again – hell, just being able to _talk_ to her again – he'd totally forgotten about what he had seen that afternoon.

Hiro and Maka together, talking and laughing.

Hiro and Maka together, Hiro grabbing Maka's hands and _Maka letting him_.

Hiro and Maka.

Together.

Soul slumped back against the couch, the content glow he felt just a few moments ago dissipating in a rush, leaving him cold. Yeah, he and Maka were back to normal, as far as their friendship and partnership was concerned, but touchier subjects like becoming more than just friends, or partners, or weapon and meister…

He'd figured he'd have plenty of time on how to broach that subject with her, at a time and place that suited them both.

Now he feared that he was too late.

Lost in his melancholy thoughts and purposely tuning out Maka's one-sided conversation with Hiro, Soul didn't realize that she'd hung up and was now staring at him worriedly.

_"We…weren't the only ones who saw you and Hiro together."_

"_Soul saw it, too."_

Liz and Tsubaki's solemn statements from earlier in the evening echoed through Maka's mind as she gazed at Soul's forlorn expression and defeated posture. In her rush to get home and set things right with her partner, and then with all that went on during their reconciliation, the talk she'd had with Hiro earlier that day had totally slipped her mind.

And so had the fact that Soul had seen it.

_Crap. Now what? _

Maka gnawed on her bottom lip as she considered a possible option: maybe pretend that she didn't know he'd seen – and misunderstood – her meeting with Hiro? Scratch that. It was a lie by omission, and Maka refused to lie to Soul.

A tiny voice in her mind spoke up. _Aren't you lying by omission now by not telling him the truth about how you feel about him?_

Erg. Her subconscious had a point. The fact that taking that scary step away from the comfortable and known boundaries of their current relationship, into the unknown waters of confessing that she wanted to be more than friends, was more frightening than just about anything she'd done in her life.

But…this was _Soul_. Didn't she just acknowledge a short while ago that she trusted him with all that she was? Didn't that include her heart?

Couldn't she be brave enough to show him how she felt about him?

Taking a deep breath, Maka steeled herself. She'd play it by ear, but she'd be damned if she chickened out on telling him how she felt.

"So what did Hiro want?" Soul's forced attempt at nonchalance interrupted Maka from her musings.

In a split second decision, Maka settled on how she was going to find out how Soul felt about her.

"Oh," she replied airily, glancing sidelong at her partner, "he had a question about dating." If she hadn't been watching for it, she would have missed the muscles in his jaw clench momentarily.

"…really."

"Yup." Swinging her legs over to rest on Soul's lap, Maka crossed her arms behind her head in emulation of her partner's earlier pose. She grinned inwardly when she noted the slight scowl on his face as he started to push her feet out of his personal space. His automatic reaction proved that she'd found a chink in the armor of misery he'd covered himself with.

Good. Now to blow it wide open.

Maka resisted his half-hearted shoves, bringing a hand from behind her head to shake a finger at him. "Ah-ah, leave the feet alone. I like 'em there. Did you know," she continued conversationally, "that Hiro has a crush on somebody? That's one of the reasons he was calling me. And did you know – that person isn't me?"

It wasn't often that Maka got to see Soul well and truly flabbergasted. She imprinted the expressions racing over his face on her memory for later retrieval.

"Wha…but…you…dwah?"

The spluttering was highly amusing, too.

"I said," she repeated, pulling her legs back and rolling to her knees in one fluid motion, "that the person Hiro likes _isn't_ me. He was calling me to let me know that he asked out the girl he likes, and she agreed to go out with him."

Maka gathered up Soul's lax hands in her own before twisting to flop her head and shoulders in his lap. "Good for Hiro, right?" she said brightly, looking up at her weapon with mischievous emerald eyes.

Soul stared down at the cheekily grinning blond girl in his lap, his expression finally settling into an expression of dumbfounded perplexity. He was still stuck at "that person isn't me."

He finally managed to wheeze out a coherent sentence. "But – I saw you and Hiro together today…"

"I know you did," Maka replied easily. "Liz and Tsubaki told me. What you saw, silly Soul, was Hiro asking me advice on how to ask out the girl he likes. That's all." Some of Maka's sauciness faded as she contemplated what she planned to say next.

"Hiro may suck at being a meister," she said softly, looking away, "but I have to admire him a bit." Maka swallowed, nervous butterflies turning her stomach into a fluttering mess. "I have to admit that he's got a ton of guts to be able to confess his feelings to the person he likes. It's- it's not easy."

_C'mon, Maka, you can do this! Don't give up now!_

"No – it isn't easy, is it?"

Soul's quiet comment, combined with one of his hands lifting out of her own to gently stroke her hair and the other slowly but firmly entwining with one of her free hands, caused her butterflies to begin an even more frantic dance.

But it also caused her heart to soar – her confession was being answered, even though she'd yet to voice the actual words.

Turning her head to look at Soul, Maka flushed when she found he'd bent over, his crimson gaze only a few inches from her face. The mingled look of hope and devotion in his eyes erased any lingering doubts in her mind that he didn't feel the same for her as she did for him.

His nearness also caused her to become a bit flustered. She meant to actually say something along the lines of "I love you"…simple and to the point, and unquestioningly fulfilling her silent vow to confess to Soul out loud. What came out instead was:

"I can't believe you thought I'd ever date Hiro."

The breath from Soul's soft chuckle warmed her cheek. "Gee, Maka, maybe because I was going by what I saw? And the fact that he called you, which he's never done before? _And_ that for all I knew you were out on a date with him tonight?"

"Well, you thought wrong, didn't you?"

"I suppose I did. That'll teach me to jump to conclusions, won't it?" Cue the snarky smirk.

Maka sniffed and looked away. "As well it should. Though you _are_ a bit of a slow learner."

"Maka?"

"What?"

"Shaddup so I can kiss you."

* * *

It wasn't until the next morning that Maka came out of her happy-giddy high to remember to Maka Chop her boyfriend for his flippant comment the night before.

Soul was somewhat mollified when he realized she wasn't hitting him nearly as hard as she used to.

And life went on.

* * *

**Bloody hell – I actually finished this! O_o**

**Dude.**

**Not totally happy with the fluffy parts or the ending, but that's okay – I've got more story ideas to hone my writing skills on. **

**Thanks for reading!**


End file.
